UFC will make its second trip to San Antonio this coming weekend. Headlining the event will be the welterweight clash between Rafael Dos Anjos and Leon Edwards. Read on for a preview of that fight and four other main card bouts below along with respective outcome predictions.
At 34, Dos Anjos’ window for a title shot is still very much open, especially after recovering from back-to-back losses to Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman by taking care of business against Kevin Lee last May via an arm triangle submission victory. Dos Anjos is at his best when he’s on the mat and grabbing limbs of his opponent, as he has 10 submission wins to go with five knockout victories. Overall, Dos Anjos is 29-11-0. Edwards (17-3-0) is on a roll, having won all of his past seven bouts. In his last fight, he escaped with a split decision win over Gunnar Nelson last March. Edwards has six knockout wins and three submission victories. He’s never been knocked out nor submitted.
Ranked ninth in the heavyweight division, Oleinik (57-12-1) will look to bounce back from a devastating first-round knockout loss at the hands of Alistair Overeem last April. Oleinik is 6-3 in the UFC, but his experience in fighting people professionally goes way back, as he has a total of 70 fights in his still ongoing career. Oleinik is a grappler, who has 47 wins via submissions. Among his submission victims was Mark Hunt in last year’s win via rear-naked choke. Harris (12-7-0) knocked out Serghei Spicav in the first round of their match last May. He is a powerful striker, who has knocked out a dozen opponents in the past.
If you’re a football fan, you may remember Hardy, who was a former defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys. Now, he’s focusing on his MMA career, and will have a chance of building his resume when he goes up against Adams. Hardy won his last fight via TKO against Dmitri Smoliakov. Hardy is an athletic and powerful fighter with all his four wins coming by way knockouts. Adams is going to be a tough test for Hardy, as The Kraken owns a 5-1-0 MMA record with all his wins also via knockouts. He is coming off a loss to Arjan Bhullar last May, though.
Vick has slid down to the No. 15 spot in the lightweight rankings after losing his last two fights to Paul Felder and Justin Gaethje. That being said, he’s a dangerous opponent for Hooker,as Vick knows his way well when he’s on the ground. He has five submission wins with zero submission losses. Hooker, meanwhile, could be just as good on the mat. He has seven submission wins against two losses. Vick is 13-3-0 overall in his MMA career, while Hooker is 17-8-0. Hooker also has legit striking power, with nine knockout wins.
Who wants to see two dinosaurs battle it out inside the octagon? Arlovski and Rothwell are two veterans of the sport with a combined age of 77 years. Arlovksi hasn’t won since March of last year and since then has suffered three losses. Rothwell, on the other hand, is 0-2 in his last two fights. Both Arlovski and Rothwell are heavy hitters and this fight could be decided by who gets to land a solid strike first. Rothwell is more adept on the ground, though, so look for him to try to bring the fight to the mat.
